London to Chennai - Witnessing in the air

Hey friends,

Well, I obviously didn't make good on my intention to update while in London. The flight out of Denver got a late start, and then the London/Heathrow airport took a while to get through. I'm in Mount Zion, the home of Living Hope Theological College, now....just got here last night. A lot has happened since Thursday, so I'll try to just hit the high points for ya'll.

Despite the airport holdups, I got on my flight from London to Chennai without a hitch. I had a really awesome thing happen on the way over, though, that I want to let ya'll know about. I ended up sitting next to a guy named Vairavan. He's a native Indian who has been working in London for IBM for a few years. He was on his way to see his family for a few weeks, and then bring his wife and kid back with him.

Anyway, we ended up talking about culture, language, etc. At some point during the conversation, I asked him if he had started eating beef while he'd been in London (most Indians don't). Through his answer I came to find out that he's a Hindu, not super devout, but definitely committed. That launched us into probably an hour of talking about religion, theology, etc. Our conversation pretty much hinged on his "all roads lead to the same place" kind of theology, which is very typical of Hindus. It's really hard to witness to someone who is willing to chalk all theological and doctrinal differences up to variations in personal preference and cultural relativity and chooses to only concentrate on the similarities between religions. I tried to help him understand that Christianity doesn't allow for this sort of religious pan-theism, citing Jesus statement that no one comes to the Father except through him.

Well, my conversation with Vairavan died down after an hour or two. I watched a movie or two and tried to sleep some. About an hour or so out from Chennai, we started talking again. The subject of Jesus' divinity came up, and Vairavan brought up the point that in Hinduism, they also have "saints" - people who grow so close to God that they become gods in a sense. I brought up the being/becoming distinction - that Jesus didn't become God, he was God. I pulled out my Bible and showed him Jn. 1:1 - "in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." Then we talked about how Jesus didn't become God - he simply was. Vairavan (understandably) got a little confused when I started talking about the Trinity and how Jesus sonship pertains to his relationship to the Father, not to a coming into being after the Father. We also got to talk about why Jesus had to die and the reason that he came to earth (redemption - not just to perform miracles!). Anyway, at the end of it all, Vairavan was still interested, so I asked him if he'd read my Bible if I gave it to him. He said yes, so I gave it to him and pointed him to the gospel of John as a starting place.

So, if you could be praying for Vairavan, I would really appreciate it. I've got his e-mail, so I'll probably check up with him in the next week or so. Just be praying that he open himself to the Holy Spirit and that he'd start asking questions that will lead him to Scripture.

Needless to say, this was a really God-opportunity. What a great way to start out a mission trip...witness while you go!